


Redemption

by MsFangirlFace



Series: Tea & Tropes [2]
Category: The Bletchley Circle, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (TV)
Genre: And a little bit angsty in places, F/F, Power Play, Smut, Somewhat Fluffy, They're having some feelings okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:41:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26232859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsFangirlFace/pseuds/MsFangirlFace
Summary: “I should have known you’d be bossy,” she says.“And I should have known you wouldn’t know how to behave yourself,” Jean replies quickly, raising her eyebrows.Millie isn't sure this is the usual path to redemption, but maybe it will work for her.
Relationships: Millie Harcourt/Jean McBrian
Series: Tea & Tropes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902100
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	Redemption

**Author's Note:**

> Here's my first offering for mine and MissRachelThalberg's all the tropes series, this one is based on the classic 'THERE'S ONLY ONE BED'.
> 
> I'm not 100% happy with this at all, but it was fun to write and I've not written anything smutty in a while, so whatever. Every day's a school day!

“This is us,” Jean says, as she opens the door to the spare bedroom, having insisted to her cousin’s wife that there was really no need to show them up, that they didn’t intend to be any more of an imposition than they already were. Catching sight at the look on Millie’s face as the other woman surveys the room, she frowns. It’s been a long journey, not something after which she is interested in tolerating the entitlement which Millie occasionally displays as a result of her upbringing. “We don’t all have families with entire wings available for guests,” she says. 

Millie takes a couple of seconds to hear and process Jean’s words. She would like to say that’s down to the tiredness, or even the trauma of recent events, but honestly, it’s mostly just because of how distracted she is by one aspect of the room in particular. 

“I wasn’t thinking that at all, I’m grateful, honestly,” Millie insists. 

“Then why do you look as displeased as you might if someone told you that your mother was in the next room?” Jean asks. She shuts the door behind them to reduce the risk of whatever Millie is going to say is the problem being overheard. 

“It’s certainly not as bad as that!” Millie says. It isn’t what she means to say, she’s not even sure she would categorise the current situation as ‘bad’ at all, but she’s caught off guard by the mention of her mother. That truly would be awful. 

“For Heaven’s sake Millie, _what_ isn’t as bad as that?” Jean says. She’s briefly concerned that she’s being a little too tough with her, but Millie had insisted that she didn’t want to be treated any differently than normal because of what had happened, and not being treated any differently certainly includes knowing when she’s testing Jean’s patience. 

“Nothing is bad,” Millie replies. “I was just... _reflecting_ on the fact that there is only one bed.” 

Jean frowns again. “Is that a problem?” she says. “We’ll only be here for a couple of nights, it’s not as if we’re moving in.” 

“Not at all,” Millie says. “It’s just not something I tend to do.” She knows she’s going to be asked to expand on this, but she finds she doesn’t have any willingness to lie. 

“Well that’s nonsense,” Jean replies. “I’ve seen you share your bed with Lucy, even when the spare one was free.” 

“That was different,” Millie dismisses. 

“I fail to see how,” Jean says. 

“Lucy isn’t _like us_ ,” Millie says. She’s not sure if Jean will admit it, but nevertheless that doesn’t change what she’s sure are the facts. She had suspected during the war and she’s been surer with each passing day since they have been reacquainted. 

“I have no idea what you mean, dear,” Jean says briskly. 

“Oh, come on, Jean,” Millie says. If Jean’s going to play ignorant she’s not going to play nice. “The others might buy your spinster librarian routine, might even have bought your deeply unconvincing performance of having a thing for Nigel Beamish back at Bletchley, but I don’t. Because I’m _like you_. And it’s unusual for me to contemplate platonically sharing a bed with someone with whom I am compatible in that way.” 

“Well, I can assure you you’ll be perfectly safe,” Jean says, and Millie notices that she sounds a little hurt underneath her usual no-nonsense tone. 

“That’s not what I meant, I-,” Millie says. 

“We can even fashion some kind of divider to go down the middle of the bed, just to ensure that not an inch of my skin touches yours,” Jean adds, looking away from Millie and fussing with unpacking what she needs to from her suitcase. 

It’s with the mention of _skin_ and _touching_ that Millie both makes sense of Jean’s interpretation of the situation and decides that she’s willing to see where it leads. She’s rarely reined in by good sense (a fact more than adequately demonstrated by the events of these past weeks) but she feels the last of it leave her with the images those words conjure up. Perhaps it’s distasteful, perhaps she should now be dedicating her life (which she is lucky to have, she knows that) to being _proper_ and _good_ , but honestly for Millie there‘s little that’s more life-affirming than sex, and she finds the possibility of it here, in this room, with Jean McBrian, quite irresistible. 

“What if I said the problem is that I don’t want to be?” Millie asks. 

“Don’t want to be what?” Jean replies. 

“Safe from you,” Millie says simply, letting the sentiment hang in the air. 

Jean looks up from the luggage on hearing this. “You’re being quite ridiculous,” she says, but her voice wavers just a little. 

“When has that ever meant I’m not serious?” Millie answers. She's takes a seat on the end of the bed, crosses one leg casually over the other. The smile on her face a little too closely resembles a smirk for Jean’s liking. 

In the days and weeks to come, Jean would say it was that smile that had done it. 

The first kiss is firm and full, with a handful of Millie‘s hair tangled between Jean’s fingers. It’s not a slow introduction to intimacy, it’s a bold refresher, a reminder of who each of them are, only barely reconfigured for this context. 

Jean pushes Millie back onto the bed, unbuttoning the other woman’s shirt as she goes. She attempts to straddle her but, impeded by the fabric of her own skirt, moves to the side of her instead. She feels Millie’s hand reach up for her breast and moves it, holding the offending hand above the younger woman’s head. 

Millie gasps and looks up at her, amused and exhilarated in equal measure. 

“I should have known you’d be bossy,” she says. 

“And I should have known you wouldn’t know how to behave yourself,” Jean replies quickly, raising her eyebrows. She lifts her forefinger to her lips, indicating to Millie to be quiet. 

The fact that it’s (maybe?) a joke doesn’t stop the deep moan that threatens to fall from Millie’s lips. She finds herself intrigued by the concept of being _told_ how to behave in this way. Perhaps this is something which has always existed within her, or perhaps it’s a response to how regretful she feels about the way she has managed her own behaviour recently, she isn’t sure, but either way it appeals deeply in the moment. 

She stifles the moan theatrically, biting her lip and letting the tension out in a controlled exhale through her nose. Her eyes flutter shut at _precisely_ the right moment to demonstrate her enjoyment, but she otherwise keeps her gaze locked on the other woman. 

A couple of ragged breaths that escape from Jean are the only thing that give away that her interest is piqued, until she speaks. “It seems you can be a good girl, after all.” 

Millie’s hips jerk involuntarily and she isn’t sure whether the cause is her own reaction or the knowledge of how she is affecting Jean. “For you, I can be.” 

This is clearly the right thing to say because Jean has to take another moment to compose herself before she says “Can you stay quiet if I touch you?” 

It’s a practical consideration as much as it is part of their game, with Jean’s cousin and his family just a few metres away through thin walls, but Millie replies in her role regardless. “Whatever you want.” 

This prompts Jean into action. She quickly discards Millie’s blouse and bra and hovers with her mouth over her bare chest. “Don’t make a sound,” she says, before she brushes against a nipple with her tongue. 

Millie knows that total silence is certainly more than is necessary, and nothing makes her want to stay quiet more than the simple fact that Jean has demanded it. She channels her need to make noise with her hands to begin with, gripping tight at the sheets and digging her nails into Jean’s shoulders, but as the other woman moves down her body she finds this isn’t enough, eventually reaching for one of Jean’s hands to cover her mouth whilst the other one is making circles around her clit. She’s almost embarrassed by how quickly she’s ready to come, but not enough to seek to prevent it. 

She knows, instinctively, to look to Jean for permission, and it’s her subtle nod, alongside the sudden awareness that Jean is perhaps the only person in her life who has ever managed to get her to do what she was told, which pushes her to let go, shaking and tensing and relaxing, letting out the smallest squeak of a moan into the hand clamped against her mouth. 

Then her mouth is free and she’s breathing deeply and Jean is kissing her, small kisses over her face and neck and shoulders. 

“Such a good girl,” Jean says, perfectly timed to make Millie shudder with an aftershock as she presses a kiss against her lips. 

“I can be even better,” Millie says, letting her hand wonder down Jean’s still mostly clothed body, even as she is still breathing deeply to recover, until she is stopped at the waistband of her skirt. 

“As much as I would enjoy that, dear, it’s best we don’t right now.” Seeing Millie’s quizzical, almost concerned look, she adds: “I’m not very good at keeping quiet, you see.” 

Millie’s legitimately lost for words for a moment, and Jean laughs as she pulls her tight against her chest.


End file.
